Then and Now

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches get you friends

January 27th
2004

Sam

Sam was careful to move only when Lilith wasn't looking. He was terrified of her and knew that she had been doing something to Dean. This made him angry, but he was too scared to even look at her, let alone help his older brother. 

Lilith was currently dealing with two six year olds that were new to the home. He could hear her annoyed yells from where he hid behind he kitchen counter. The peanut and jelly sandwhiches were almost done, he was jumping at every little sound, not wanting to be caught out, but thankfully no one came into the room. It helped that no one noticed when Sam wasn't around, being quiet was actually doing him good now. 

Despite his nerves, Sam was buzzing with excitement. Today he would be seeing Gabriel again, which is why he was carefully making an extra sandwich. He had also grabbed some candy from another kid's secret stash. Gabriel really loved his candy. 

Sam had sworn that he wouldn't tell anyone about Gabriel and his running away (not that he could if he wanted, being mute and all). Honestly, Sam hadn't been this happy since the night of the attacker, in fact until now all he had really felt was a constant, dull grey feeling.

Footsteps could be heard coming his way, and he hurriedly stuffs the sandwich in the bag that Dean had put his one in, and runs out of the room to join his brother by the front door.

He looked up at his brother, who was staring absently at the peeling paint of the front door. Sam bumped against him, and Dean looked down. 

"Hey Sammy, where were you?"

Sam shrugs, tilting his head as he looked at his brother's latest bruise, large and dark on his arm and barely hidden by his t-shirt. 

"Okay you shits, get to school before you're late, the last thing we need is teachers snooping."

They group of kids jostle each other around as they rush out the door to get started on their 8 hours of relief from Lilith's abuse. As usual, Sam has to hold Dean's hand to stop himself from being tripped up. Once on the street, Sam practically spent the entire walk bouncing on his toes as the excitement of seeing his new friend. 

"Look at you, you nerd, all excited to go to school already." 

Sam just stuck his tongue out at his brother.

That morning's class went by slowly. Sam couldn't even focus went they did art - which he usually loved. Instead, all he could do was wait for the bell to ring. When it finally did, Sam was out the door with his bag faster than anyone else. He flew through the halls and out into the playground. Past laughing kids, across the field that was now slightly muddy after last night's rain. Finally, to the tree that was now their spot. Gabriel was already there, reading a comic book with a small smile. 

"Hiya Sammy!" His grin grew wider as Sam sat next to him, breathing hard from his sprint.

Sam waves, before pulling out the two sandwiches.

"Thanks! I'm so hungry, and these are actually amazing!"

Sam laughs silently as Gabriel dug in, before doing the same. He loved lunch times with Gabriel, and hoped that his new friend would stay around. 

"So Samantha."

Sam pulls a face at this new nickname. 

"Where are you from? Y'know, before..."

Sam sighed heavily, raising an eyebrow at Gabriel.

"You can write it, jeez."

Sam wasn't entirely sure how to spell it. He knew his entire address off by heart of course- his mummy had made him and Dean repeat their address and telephone number just in case they got separated somehow. Of course, speaking it and spelling it was very different. 

Still, he tried. 'Cansis.'

"Cansis? Oh! Kansas?"

Sam nods, finishing off his sandwich.

"I'm from Souix Falls myself, but I hate my school and have no friends." Gabriel looked over at Sam. "But now we're friends, so I'm not alone now."

Sam stretches out on the grass, Gabriel lay beside him and they stared up at the blue sky. Sam indicated that Gabriel should talk. That was how their friendship worked best, Gabriel loved talking, and Sam was a good listener. 

"So Lucifer was such a pain this one time, he and all his big kid friends thought it would be funny to chase me up a tree! I swear, he is nice until he's with them." Gabriel scoffed, obviously thinking about this some more.

Meanwhile, Sam was frowning at the sky. He had known the names of Gabriel's extensive family members since that first time they hung out, and it had been since then that he had had the itching feeling over the name Lucifer. It was one of those thought itches, in your brain that made it feel like someone had poured itching powder in there. But he knew the name Lucifer, he just couldn't remember who he had heard it from.

"- Of course, then I told Lucifer that I had released a dozen spiders in his room even though I actually hadn't - they had been crickets-"

Sam shook his head, feeling bad for not listening and made effort to tune in to the boy's story.

"Then Charlie came over and helped me get my revenge."

Sam rolled over, eyes widening. He instantly remembered where he had heard the name Lucifer. Dean's friend, Charlie, had been talking about about them back before his fourth birthday.

"But of course, now Charlie is gone..."

Sam grabbed his drawing gear. 'Red hair?'

Gabriel frowned. "Yeah... she had red hair."

Sam grinned.

"Wait, do you know her?"

Nodding, Sam wrote more. 'Dean's friend.'

"Is she here now?" Gabe's eyes light up in excitement.

Sam shook his head, biting his lip. 

"Oh." Gabriel lay back down, frowning a the sky. 

Sam lay down too, a bad feeling in his stomach at the sight of his now sad friend. 'Sorry.' He mouths this silently at the sky. 

Castiel

Cas sat solemnly in his car seat as his mother flew down the road. He wasn't really sure what was going on past the fact the Gabriel suddenly wasn't with them anymore. Their dad had had to go back home for work, but Balthazar sat quietly in the front seat. Lucifer was next to him, but he wasn't smiling now. Instead he looked like he was about to start crying. 

"Oh God, what if he got hit by a car? Or kidnapped!?" His mum was crying.

Castiel didn't like it when his mummy cried, it made him want to cry. The only one that wasn't looking sad was little Samandriel who was asleep in his car seat on Lucifer's other side. 

"He'll be fine, just take deep breaths mum." Balthazar looked like he was crying too.

"Luci?" Cas grabbed his older brother's arm. "Is Gabbey okay?"

"Yea Cassie, Gabe is fine."

Castiel tilted his head. Lucifer didn't sound sure about that.

"Where is my son?" 

Castiel bit his lip, he didn't like his mummy sounding so sad.

To distract himself, Cas looked out the window and saw a brown haired boy walking along. A short kid with longer, messy brown hair was following behind him. In the second that their car went past. The older of the two boys looked up and his green eyes briefly meet Cas's own eyes.

Then the moment passed, and they were turning round the corner, leaving the two boys behind.